Table or bed support mounted cutting tools, such as table saws or planers, are valuable tools used for a variety of tasks, such as cross-cutting wood, and ripping large boards or panels into narrow strips. While there are a variety of table saw and planer designs, most table saws and planers include a table structure having a planar support surface for supporting a workpiece, such as a piece of wood, and a cutting element, such as a circular saw blade, mounted below the support surface with a cutting portion of the cutting element extending through an opening in the support surface to perform cutting operations on the workpiece or a cutterhead, mounted above the bed support to perform cutting operations on the workpiece and the workpiece feeds through a infeed roller. In use, a workpiece is moved across the support surface of the table or bed support in a cutting direction and into contact with the cutting portion of the cutting element. The workpiece is moved in the cutting direction through the cutting element so that the cutting portion of the cutting element performs the desired cut on the workpiece.
Sliding tables have been incorporated into the main table or the bed support to facilitate the movement of workpieces across the main table parallel to the blade. The sliding tables are typically attached a lateral edge of the main table or integrated into an intermediate section of the main table. However, traditional sliding table assemblies for table saws and planers are typically very costly and bulky. In addition, the methods and techniques used to mount and support traditional sliding tables result in a lot of play between the supports and the sliding table which makes it difficult to perform precise, accurate cuts